(Newser)
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Wall Street stormed Washington yesterday, as more than 70 lobbyists for financial firms met with GOP lawmakers to organize opposition to a bill that would raise the tax rate on private-equity partners. The proposal would require managers at private partnerships to pay the normal income tax rate of up to $35% on their cut of profits, rather than the 15% rate they now enjoy.

Opponents of the bill, including Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary, criticize it for singling out one industry. Supporters, including most Democrats in Congress, say it rectifies special tax treatment that has made private equity principals vastly wealthy. The New York Times reports that a unified front against the bill may be hard to achieve because many Wall Street firms aren't affected by it.